Uncertain Destiny
by Crazyeight
Summary: What do you do when you find yourself in a strange world that defies all sense of reality? Where do you go? Who can you turn to for help? Why did you end up there? And more importantly... how do you expect to survive in this world and find your way home?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Uncertain Destiny

A Digimon story by Crazyeight

_I suppose that you're wondering who I am, and what it is that I'm here for. Truth is, I don't really know either. I mean, I used to, but now I don't know for sure anymore. A lot has happened between then and now, from when I first arrived here, this strange place filled with monsters, where dreams and nightmares became real and danger was around every corner whether or not you were actually looking for it. Well, maybe you don't care really. Maybe you're just passing through, took a look around, and thought that my story sounded interesting. Or maybe you were just taking a peak. __**Window-shopping**__ as my mother and older brother used to say. My father would have called it something else, but we won't get into him right now. Besides, I don't see him anymore. I'm getting off topic aren't I? Sorry. Anyways, I'll start things off where it all began. Or at least somewhere close to it. Never been much of a fan of prologues myself…_

_I'm getting off topic again aren't I? Well, for those of you who have stuck around, this is my tale… _

* * *

The faint rays of sunlight could be seen through the branches of the trees as the boy slowly opened his eyes, a groan escaping his lips as he stretched his limbs outwards. Feeling around him, his fingers came into contact with solid ground. Coiling his fingers inward the boy clawed at the soil that he lay upon and brought his hands up to his face, his eyes tracing over the dirt that stained his skin, as though he was seeing them for the first time. A sparkle of mirth and relief appeared in his eyes as he sat up and took a look around him. 

_Solid ground,_ thought the boy as he took in the nature scene that he found himself in. All around him stood trees, regular maples with a few pines to go with them. The sky above him was deep and blue, with only a few clouds straying across it, but none of them were close enough to block out the light that continued to shine down above him. The boy looked down at where he sat.

_Solid ground,_ he thought again, and he frowned at it. Something was wrong here. He knew it. Of course, the fact that he had been in a completely different setting prior to waking up where he was now was the main reason for his suspicions, so perhaps the feeling of _wrongness_ was warranted.

_Where am I?_ Wondered the boy as he took a look around him. From what he could see he was in the middle of… well, nowhere really. Though if he didn't know any better, the ground that he had been lying on looked to be a path. One that was well worn by the looks of it.

_The last thing that I remember before waking up here was… let's review… I was at home, talking to my brother. He had been telling me about the college that he was going to be attending once the summer was up. Then Mom came home… and those two fell to talking about college and on-campus living expenses. Nothing major, and nothing that concerned me. I went upstairs to my room… turned on my computer…_

The boy shook his head.

_…There was a bright light… And a feeling of weightlessness…_

Something was _definitely_ wrong here.

_Just __**where**__ am I? Where on Earth am I? I… this place… these trees… they shouldn't be here. Not if I was home just a few minutes ago… It was a few minutes ago, wasn't it?_

The boy raised his wrist and took a look at the digital watch that adorned it before muttering a soft curse. The numbers that were displayed on it made absolutely no sense at all in terms of time keeping. If he was reading this thing right, and he had no doubt that he was, the time was somewhere around 99:91:01 in the month of January. Back home, in the _city_, it was supposed to be August, and it had been _noon_ when… whatever it was that happened, happened.

_Mom's not going to be happy about this,_ thought the boy as he rubbed one hand in agitation through his sand colored hair before realizing how stupid this thought was. If nothing else she would be far more worried about where he had disappeared to rather then the fact that his watch had been broken.

As time would pass, the boy would realize that with the journey that he was about to embark on she would have plenty of reason to worry.

There was a sound of something humming in the air, followed by that of something _massive_ traveling in his direction. Looking up the boy tried to see through the thick branches of the trees to see whatever it was that he heard, but with the trees obscuring his vision he couldn't really tell. All that he could say for certain that whatever it was, it was going to be _huge_.

_What is it? A plane?_

As the boy looked up at a small gap between the trees, he caught sight of something orange, and _metallic _looking flying above him at a rapid pace, casting a shadow over where he stood. The sound of humming, reminding him of the way a beetle or a humming birds wings hummed when they flew in the air, grew so loud that he had to cover his ears. Panic began to seep into him, but the boy held his ground as he waited for… what exactly he didn't know for sure. Perhaps some giant monster to land near him and then seek him out in an effort to devour him.

But that couldn't be right. There were no such things as _monsters…_

No monster came crashing down on him. There was no sudden tearing at tree branches (much to the boy's own relief). Rather the humming noise began to taper off, becoming less loud as though it were getting farther and farther away. Breathing in ragged gasps, the boy lowered his hands and tried to calm himself. His legs were shaking violently, making him unsteady on his feet.

_I don't think that I'm going to go down that way,_ he thought quietly to himself as he stared off in the direction that he believed the strange creature to go. Feeling that it was necessary to put some distance between it and himself, the boy turned and began to head in the opposite direction down the path that he had woken up in. Much better that way. Safer too, he felt considering the fact that he was in a strange place with even stranger things going on around him. Briefly he wondered if he should even stay on the path, but decided, out of the desire to have a light and easy journey on his legs, to stick to the beaten path.

_Just what __**was**__ that?_ He wondered as he made his way down the dirt road, trying to calm himself. No answer came to him, though his mind refused to leave it alone. Slowly he began rationalizing what was going on, convincing himself that everything that was going on around him was the result of too many spicy foods and horror movies over the course of his summer vacation. He had been overdoing it lately, and his mother and brother had warned him about the excessiveness of his eating habits. Not that what he ate had made much of a difference to him. He was still the same, scrawny kid that he was before the summer started. Besides, it was _supposed_ to be summer vacation, so why couldn't he afford to eat the way he wanted. He paid for it himself didn't he?

_This is all just a bad dream,_ the boy thought to himself, smiling nervously at the road in front of him. _Yeah. That's it. No reason to be concerned. Nothing to worry about. After all, nothing can hurt you in a drea…_

"Ow!"

The boy gave a small cry of surprise and pain as he felt something smack against his head and bounce off his right foot. Looking down at the offending object that had just hit him, the boy blinked to find an apple rolling on the ground next to him, its very presence almost mocking his earlier thoughts about the reality of his situation.

_Where did that come from?_ The boy thought as he took a look around. Out of the corner of his eye he saw movement. Turning his head quickly his eyes, which were a curios mixture of gold and green, widened in surprise as he thought he saw…

Darting into the branches of a nearby tree, and vanishing completely all together was what appeared to the boy to be a small, dark colored, _imp_-like creature with a red bandana wrapped around its neck. The boy waited for a moment to see if the creature would return to make a guest appearance, his heart beating like a battering ram in his chest all the while. Once that moment was up, the boy resumed his journey, casting a worried glance over his shoulder to see if there was going to be anything new coming out of the woods.

_Take it easy,_ the boy thought to himself, sounding as though he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. _It's all… just… a dream…_

Glancing over his shoulder once more, the boy clearly saw a small, impish creature standing in the dirt path, calmly munching on the apple that had just a few seconds ago smacked into his head. It had a rather large red bandana wrapped around its neck, covering what looked like a smiley face emblazoned on its chest, and red gloves adorned its hands. The look on the strange creatures white face was one of nonchalance. The Imp looked over at the boy, smirked and waved. The boy blinked and the Imp was gone, apple and all.

_Okay. I'm __**positive**__ that I didn't see that._

Scratching the back of his head in agitation, the boy continued his journey, hoping that somewhere down the line he'd find something that would alleviate his tension and, hopefully, help him wake up from this crazy dream that he was having.

* * *

Minutes passed by slowly, but as time went on the boy began to collect himself and relax from the strange sights and experiences that he had had thus far. Having decided that his first order of business was to find some semblance of human life where he could make a phone call home or to a police station, the boy felt that sticking to the main path was his best option. Besides, with what he had seen so far, suddenly the woods were looking a lot less friendly then they were earlier. Not that they had looked particularly inviting to begin with, it was just that after seeing the strange imp creature he no longer had a desire to go into them. Besides, the road offered him the best chance of finding civilization. Hopefully human. 

Briefly he wondered if he was having hallucinations.

As he walked down the path, the trees began to thin out and widen, becoming fewer and fewer between until finally opening out onto a vast field. With a wide smile on his face, the boy looked out over the field, his oddly colored eyes settling on the center of it, and for good reason. There were _tents_ there. _Tents!_ And where there were tents there were people…!

The sound of giant wings beating came to him, and looking up bewilderedly, the boy's eyes widened in shock as he saw a giant, orange bird with flame like wings coming in for a landing. And another noise, the same humming noise that he had heard earlier was back! And it was coming his way again! As the boy watched in horror, his eyes bulging in their sockets as shock began to fully take hold of his body, a giant, orange colored insect that looked like a great stag beetle flew in towards the tents, joining the bird in its chosen parking spot.

The boy's legs became unhinged and he fell backwards, landing on his rear and sending a jolt of pain up his body. Due to what he was seeing in front of him however, the complete and utter alien ness of it all, this didn't quite register in his brain. In fact, nearly all his mental processes seemed to have stopped working all together. He was frozen in place, unable to think or move; so complete was the shock that flooded his system. The only reaction that could possibly be gotten out of the boy was simple, and almost laughable in its simplicity. Yet somehow, it was appropriate for the situation.

A stream of stutters and whimpers made their way out of the boys mouth, but for one long minute nothing coherent came out. Finally, the boy took a breath to express all the emotion that he was feeling.

"Guh…"

Yup. Never before had such a soul stirring sound ever been heard in all the universes existence.

* * *

A/N: Welcome to my latest story, _Uncertain Destiny_. It's not meant to be a primary project like my other stories _Digital Manifest, Hazard's Sorrow, _and _Four Seasons_, but it's something for me to play with when I need to break away from them (so updates for this fic won't be as rapid as my other ones). This story is intended to be more of an experiment in plot and character development, working with original characters, subplots and one (or two) overarching primary plots. No idea as to where I'm going with this story, so this story is going to be an adventure in itself in writing. The title itself is something of a pun on the idea and reason behind writing this story. It is all uncertain, but I do have a few ideas kicking around on the backburner. Anyways, hope you enjoyed reading. Later. :) 

-Crazyeight

* * *

5 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Uncertain Destiny: Chapter 2

_You've seen one strange sight you've seen them all. Except that is in the case of the digital world where the weird and odd keep popping up and continuously push the envelope on how far strangeness can go. Just as soon as you think that you can't sink any lower… 'cause I mean, let's face it, getting stuck in a place where insects, dinosaurs, and ostriches the size of skyscrapers go roaming about, flying whether or not they actually had wings and talking to you, it certainly puts a new perspective on things. I quickly found out that the digital world was like quicksand. The harder you struggled against it the worse off you were. How to escape without sinking… well, that became the overarching problem, and quite a few popped up during the time that I was there, some small, some… not so small, kind of like when I first met Rane… again, I'm getting ahead of myself. Rane's way down the line so we'll save that encounter for later. _

_Now I was a good kid, or at least I liked to think so. I did my homework when I felt up to the task to even be bothered by it, stayed out of my mothers hair as best as I could… that sort of stuff. I certainly wasn't a saint, but I never met a kid that was, at least not in my hometown… er… city. Anyway, like I said, I was a decent sort of kid. Not the best, but a far cry from the worst. So when I first found myself in a strange and completely alien world the first thing that I thought was… 'What did I do to deserve this?'_

_At least, I think that was what I thought._

* * *

"Guh…" 

That was the only sound that could be considered _coherent_ coming from this boy who had received what had to be the shock of his life. He was looking at giant… _things_, which was really the best way that he could describe the creatures that were in the field in front of him. Granted, they looked like animals and insects. Creatures that were familiar to him back home, the _real_ world that he seemed to have completely vanished from, but the thing was they _weren't_. Familiar, yes. Similar in some aspects, minus the size that is, yes. But they weren't the same. One could hardly call the giant orange insect that he was staring at with eyes the size of golf balls a Stag Beetle. And the bird…

Disregarding the myth of the legendary firebird known as the _Phoenix, _he was fairly certain that birds did not have flames for wings. But then they generally did not grown to be the size that this one was at either. Ditto for the bug. Something about this whole scene was unnerving him. There was just too much _unreality_ here for him to handle all at once.

And things just weren't going to get any better on that account.

The sound of something being bitten into and then chewed on snapped the boy out of his state of shock. Turning, with a look of surprise and slight fear, he saw the strange imp like creature that he had noticed earlier, calmly munching on an apple, no doubt the same one that he had been pegged with earlier. The creature looked out over the encampment with large, green eyes, looking rather nonchalant as he munched on the apple that he held in one, red-gloved hand.

"Kind of amazing isn't it?" The small, impish creature asked the boy. "The festival that is. It only comes around once every year, and each time they always got something new going on. That Birdramon and Kuwagamon are new. They must've been digivolved before getting here, or maybe they've been upgrading and hiring or something."

"Uh… huh… wha… where…" The boy stammered, trying to find something to say, and utterly failing at it. The imp like creature that stood next to him was acting like this was the most normal thing in the world, and perhaps for him it was, but for him it… well, it was beyond his experience to cope with. The fact that there was an imp standing right next to him wasn't helping things any either.

The imp looked over at the boy and cocked an eyebrow.

"What'sa matter? Gatomon got your tongue or something?"

When the boy didn't answer right away, the imp just shook his head and tossed the apple in his mouth and swallowed, seeds, core, stem and all. The boy looked at the creature with wide, surprised eyes that only got larger with each passing second.

"Eh, forget it," said the imp shrugging his shoulders. "You've probably never been in this area before am I right? In fact, come to think of it, I don't think I've ever seen your species before. What kind of digimon are you?"

The boy blinked.

"_D-Digimon_…?" The boy asked, trying the name out. It sounded… well, childish. Almost like something that came out of those Saturday morning cartoons that he watched. "What are… digimon?"

_I can't believe this,_ thought the boy, the surprise that he had been experiencing lately not once leaving his mind. _Here I am, conversing with a weird little imp monster, right outside of a festival filled with more bizarre monsters. In fact, bizarre is right to describe that camp down there. Or rather, __**Bazaar…**_

The imp spoke up, sounding almost contemptuous of the boy that sat on the ground next to him.

"What rock have you been living under? Digimon is short for _Digital Monsters_. You know… critters made out of digital data… that is if I remember my classes correctly…"

The boy blinked again. This creature actually _had_ a _school_ that he went to?

"…But I never really bothered to pay much attention to that kind of stuff anyways. It's why I left. Anyway… I'm a digimon. An _Impmon_ to be more precise and you're…?"

The creature that had identified itself as _Impmon_ let the question drift, waiting for the boy to answer it. The boy paused for a moment, and then, realizing that he was being asked for clarification as to what he was, spoke up, fumbling a bit over his words as he did so.

"Ah… uh… I'm… um… a human being…"

"What? A _Hue-mon_? Never heard of ya."

"Huh? Humon?" Asked the boy, baffled at the creature's take on his wording. "Where'd this _humon_ thing come from…?"

"That's what you said, right? A humon…"

_"Hue-__**man,**__"_ emphasized the boy. "I don't know why you thought that **mon** was at the end of that…"

"Because that's how it is with all digimon. Don't really know why…"

"Huh? But… I'm not… I mean…"

The boy's mind was awhirl with confusion. Here he was, talking to a strange creature that called itself _Impmon_, claiming that it was made up of digital data (though how that could be he had no clue whatsoever) and part of a race that called itself _Digimon_, or more correctly, _Digital Monsters_, and for some reason he had just been mistaken for one, and as a result he had the _mon_ suffix put in the place of _man_ in his species name. It was all so confusing right now… and the world was starting to spin around him as a result.

_This __**has**__ to be a dream,_ thought the boy as he tried to find some logical explanation for what was going on with him. A memory of the computer that he had gone to turn on, right before that flash of light that had left him unconscious…

_That's it!_ Thought the boy as he seized on the memory like it was a prize. _It had to be some kind of electrical shock! I was knocked out and now I'm dreaming all of this. That has to be it! Okay… okay… deep breaths then. This is no big deal. Just go with the flow until you wake up. After all, it's just a dream, so now worries right?_

The boy smiled in relief. As long as he kept telling himself that then he felt that he had no reason to feel like he was losing his mind.

Looking upwards, the boy's smile vanished as he saw something that he didn't expect.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing up towards the sky like a small, curious child beseeching a parent to tell it everything about the mysterious workings of the universe.

_Impmon_ cocked an eyebrow at the boy again and followed the boy's finger and gaze to a glowing sphere hanging in the sky like a moon before scoffing.

"You _have _been living under a rock, haven't you? Don't you know that that's the terminus of the net's far southern border? It's the link between this domain to all the other domains and levels in the digital world…"

"Digital world…?" questioned the boy, his voice trembling slightly at the amount of information that was assaulting his senses. That strange, dizzy feeling from earlier was back, and he felt as though his sense of balance was being thrown off. Gulping, the boy felt grateful that he was already sitting down. If he fainted, at least he didn't have that far to fall. As he looked up at the sphere in the sky, he noticed the lights that were affixed to it, connecting to what looked like satellite dishes, which were in turn connected to strange shapes on the globes surface. The shapes looked like landmasses. In fact, they bore a great resemblance to the islands of Japan, back in the real world. Faintly he wondered if this was an important, subconscious representation of some sort.

"Yeah. The digital world; you know, where you are _now_? You're on one of the lower levels, on the _com_ branches. Those pink beams that you see coming out of the terminus? Those are connected to primary server cities located throughout the land here. They help facilitate trade and travel to various branches, ranging from _net_ domains to _coms, orgs,_ and so on and so on. What's with you? I woulda' figured that you already knew this stuff. Heck, everybody I've ever met knows it like the back of their hands…"

"I've got to go there," said the boy suddenly as he got to his feet and clenched his hands into fists.

"Say wha…?" Asked Impmon, a little taken aback by the boy's reaction to the Terminus.

"I've got to go there," reiterated the boy. "I want to go home and I think that's the way out of here."

"Hold on," said Impmon. "You don't _know_ how you got here?"

"Um…" a bead of sweat rolled down the boy's face. How exactly did he explain that he needed to go there out of some psychological reason to wake up from unconsciousness and escape this dream?

_I've been reading way too many books,_ thought the boy.

"You're crazy," said Impmon. "But I figure that you're no more crazy then the rest of us. Though I am surprised that you seem so ignorant about the digital world. Where're you from?"

"Uh…" Once more the intelligent answer. Impmon's shoulders slumped in resignation.

"You don't know that either? Sheesh. You _do_ live under a rock, you know that Humon?"

The boy blinked once again before narrowing his eyes in irritation.

"I'm not a _Humon_. I'm a _human…_"

"Whatever. Anyway, you can't just go walking into a server and expect it to transport you somewhere, especially without really knowing where you're headed. You're going to need a little something extra. How many digi-dollars do you have?"

For what had to be the hundredth time since the boy had started this dream, he blinked in confusion.

_Digi-dollars? Who the heck came up with that name?_ The boy wondered. Impmon, having seen his confusion, sighed in utter defeat.

"I don't believe this… I just _don't_ believe this. Never in my entire life have I met someone who was so… so… _**clueless!**_ Oh well. Good thing that you got me here. There aren't a lot of people who would help you out. There are some who would probably swindle ya, or take your data."

The boy _desperately_ wanted to believe that this was all just a dream. It was starting to get a little too weird for his tastes just now.

"Um… thanks?"

"Don't mention it. Well, it looks like we're going to have to find some way of getting funds. Like I said, you can't just use the Terminus for free. There're guidelines for this sort of thing, so we need to get you a job."

Impmon looked down at the camp that lay before them.

"Fortunately there's a festival going on…"

_Oookay…_

"Um… not to sound ungrateful or anything," said the boy. "But why are you helping me?"

"What? Can't a fella just do something out of the goodness of their heart? Huh? Sheesh. Are all _Humon's_ as suspicious as you?"

"Hu-**man**," the boy grated.

"Whatever. Anyway, we'd best get going 'cause I don't intend to sit here all day. I came here to have some fun and that's precisely what I'm going to do. But first, we've got to get you a job since you seem to be so keen on going nowhere."

"But I'm not going _nowhere_," cried the boy. "I just want to get home…"

"Right," said Impmon. "And what direction do you intend to go first?"

"Uh…"

"My point exactly. Let's go Humon!"

The boy growled.

"I'm a _human_! Get that through your head… uh… Impmon! And I have a name by the way…"

"Yeah," said Impmon, smirking at the boy. "You told me. It's Humon. Now come on already! Hop to it!"

"I have a name other than what my species is, which you keep getting wrong by the way…"

"My, doesn't _that_ make you special…"

The boy groaned. This looked to be the start of an unusual partnership, one that he felt that he was going to regret. Oddly enough, the boy remembered an old Chinese curse.

_How did it go again? Oh yeah._

_"May you live in interesting times…"_

* * *

6 


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon

Uncertain Destiny: Chapter 3

Across the vast, grassy plain, standing adjacent to a small, hilly outcrop of rocks and caves a small, blue scaled Veemon ran, a sack slung over his shoulder, and a small smile on his face. A hum to a nameless tune escaped his lips as he raced through the field, his eyes set on the horizon, his mind completely elsewhere, though somewhat focused on the special prize that he had stashed in his knap sack.

_I'd better hurry and get back to the village,_ thought the blue, hard-headed reptile as his legs churned relentlessly across the field. _I've got to get these supplies home __**fast**__ so that I can go and see if Gatomon would like to come down to the festival with me. She certainly gave me the impression that she wouldn't be opposed to the idea… not after that catnip that I gave her a few weeks ago…_

Suddenly the Veemon's scales around his face gained an odd, purple color to them as he raised a hand to his mouth to try and restrain the excited giggle that was threatening to emerge.

Ahhh… Veemons. One of the few digimon out there who maintain a kind of childish love and trust for others… Gatomons notwithstanding, and this one was no different from any other, if not younger than most, and as such he was held in the grips of young love all the tighter. There were many back at his home who would chuckle at his choice though, perhaps even comment on how he's not the first Veemon to pursue a Gatomon (or, as it is in other cases, Renamons), but they would hardly discourage him from doing so. And why not? Some have gotten lucky in the past, and it is that knowledge and hope that drives the Veemon forward… sometimes through walls but we won't get into that right now. We are not here to focus on this particular Veemon's view on love, at least not yet. For the moment, we shall regard this scene of innocence and love, and cherish it as anyone would their own, for like all things in life, it does not last forever.

The sound of electricity crackling upon the air brought the Veemon out of his dreams of the most beautiful Gatomon he had ever laid eyes on swooning into his arms as they danced, and his eyes widened in surprise at what he saw coming towards him. At first it was nothing easily discernable, rather looking like the haze of heat baking the land around him, and it _was _rather warm today. While it was not the kind that would allow Veemon to cook eggs on rocks (as there was a lack of driveway and sidewalk to do that particular chore on) there was a visible warp in the air around him off towards the horizon. Yet this time something was off, though the fact that the range of the hazy warp had something to do with it. It was much closer than it otherwise should have been, standing within a yard in front of him, and _growing. _That and the fact that the area within the warp just grew darker and darker, its outer edge sparking with lightning as it expanded was more than enough of a visual confirmation that something was wrong, and that trouble was going to roll through with a capitol 'T'.

_Incoming Data Surge,_ thought Veemon, immediately recognizing what was going on and he quickly turned around and bolted in the other direction, aiming for the outcrop of rocks and caves, moving with as much speed as his tiny legs could muster in the hope of evading what his experience, family, and teachers called _the thunder storms of the digital world._ Such occurrences were never fun to see and even worse to go through, and for most digimon, especially of the low Rookie, In-Training, and Fresh levels as the surge of data could prove fatal, though it depended more on just how quickly the Data Surge expanded and how big it got. There were some, Veemon had heard, that could grow large enough to swallow multiple Mega's and lay waste to a good portion of the surrounding digital environs, and others that were so small as to be completely harmless.

Throwing a look over his shoulder, Veemon could tell that this was definitely _not_ the kind that would be harmless. In fact, it would most likely be the _wipe your data off the face of the digital map_ kind, and could probably delete, if not damage a Champion level digimon with its current size and strength.

And here he was at the Rookie level.

_Why me?_ Veemon moaned as he ran towards the closest of the caves, feeling the data in his body tug in the direction of the data surge. That was one of the dangers of a Data Surge. It could attract a digimon's data, or repel it, and usually in the way where individual bits and pieces would get torn off if you were too close. You had to be of a level higher than Rookie in order to resist the affects of a Data Surge and expect to have any decent chance of survival.

_Gotta get some shelter,_ thought Veemon as he leapt forward like an acrobat, crossing the distance between the Data Surge and the caves that he had spotted earlier near the rocky outcroppings. Landing nimbly the blue-scaled digimon ran into the cave, going as deep as he could. He had never been caught outside his home by a Data Surge before, but then again it wasn't often that he ventured beyond the outskirts of his hometown either, so maybe there was something to be said about that as well, though what exactly the moral lesson was, was lost on Veemon at the moment as he was more concerned with just trying to find some measure of safety before he could even begin to ruminate over his choices.

_Sure is dark in here,_ thought Veemon as he made his way deeper into the subterranean cavern, hearing the incessant crackling of the Data Surge and wishing that he had thought to bring some kind light with him. Something else to think back on once he got home…

Veemon suddenly tumbled to the ground as his foot caught on something protruding from out of the cave floor within that darkness. Mouthing a curse, Veemon got to his feet, not at all paying any mind to whatever it was that he had tripped over… _Probably a rock,_ he thought as he rubbed his foot gingerly before he began feeling around for the sack that he had dropped. Where was it? Here? No… that was whatever it was that he had tripped over…

Suddenly an eerie red light began to glow from the object that his hand had touched, burning like the embers of a dying fire before a yellow symbol, a circle with three forked lines bending together into one like a tree before extending outwards to the blue reptile's right, as though they were branches to a greater whole.

_Wha…?_ Was all Veemon had time to think before that red light that now surrounded the object flared and burst like a dying star, enveloping him with all of its fury as words involuntarily came to his lips. A second later the darkness had returned to the cave with a hush, like a quiet gift from a lover, but within those shadows lurked something new, something that they had never known before in all the cave's long history.

The darkness was suddenly once again shattered by twin crimson lights flaring into existence, narrowing once before moving towards the cave's entrance. The sound of metal scraping on stone was distinctly heard in the stillness, and even the storm that raged outside seemed to hold its breath in expectation. Or fear.

_No sooner spoken then broken…_ The shadows almost seemed to breath as within their depths the unseen form continued to move.

* * *

"I don't know about this, Impmon…" 

"Oh stop whining Humon…"

"Would you stop calling me _Humon?_ I told you! I'm a _hue-__**man!**_Emphasis on the _**'a'**_ part in that word! And my name is Minoru Akagi!"

The small, imp creature looked up at the boy with an annoyed look crossing his pale face.

"Your point? I haven't seen any others of your species around, and _Humon_ sounds better anyway. Plus it's easier to say than Mino-_whatever-the-rest-of-it-was._ Besides. All digimon call each other by their species name no matter what the situation… well, with a few exceptions… don't really know why…"

The boy whose name was Minoru, who had explained this fact about a hundred times since meeting up with the creature that had identified itself as _Impmon_ rubbed his forehead's temples gingerly, as though he felt a pain beginning to build up in them. _This_, he had finally decided, was going to be a _looong_ day…

"I was _born_ with the name Minoru, Impmon. People have called me that all my life… and to be frank, I'd rather _not_ be called anything else either. Is it too much to ask just to have you call me by the name that I've been accustomed to for the past twelve years…"

Impmon just cocked his head nonchalantly at the boy before beckoning with his hands for Minoru to lean forward. Minoru did so, cautiously, his eyes narrowed in suspicion. Impmon placed his gloved hands around his mouth and leaned towards the boy…

_"Humon!"_ The Impmon whispered excitedly and then resumed walking, laughter erupting from his mouth as Minoru groaned in exasperation. Yup, today was going to be a long day, and it was bound to get longer.

"I don't know what it is that you're so hesitant about," said Impmon placing his hands behind his head as the two of them continued to walk towards the fair, the diminutive digimon's posture that of the most extreme self-importance that one could muster. "You said that you wanted to get home, and you're under the impression that getting to the terminus point," Impmon nodded to the pink colored beam off in the distance. "Is going to get you home, and since you're so set on it we have to earn ourselves some cash for traveling expenses. Now the fair is usually here for a month or so, and it only set up shop last week. I'm pretty sure that they've got some job openings for mons like us, though all the good stuff is probably taken by now…"

"Well, yeah," said Minoru as he strode alongside the Impmon, feeling a little bit odd that the small creature had opted to help him try to find his way home even though they were complete strangers. Sure, he said that he was doing this out of the goodness of his heart (which he rather doubted that he possessed), but he had once read that Imps, despite being devilish creatures, are just as likely to seek friends as they are to play pranks on people, or at least that's what he remembered. Did the same hold true for this place too? What did Impmon call it again? Oh yeah…

_The digital world._

The name itself was a little corny sounding, Minoru felt. No sense of originality or distinction. Most places were called something a little bit more fancy so that they could be distinguished from everything else. But then, it was true that his own world, Earth, was named after a word for _dirt_, so it wasn't like he had anything special to claim for home. Of course, his home city was a different story…

"You're actually kinda lucky that I showed up when I did," said Impmon, turning to look back at the boy with a large, somewhat mysterious grin. "I had already managed to snag a job opportunity before I began to head down this way. I happen to know the Datamon who runs this place… he likes me, and I did a favor for him last year so he still owes me. I t'ink that I can call in that favor for ya…"

Minoru blinked and raised an eyebrow. A…_ Datamon_? _Okay…_

"Um… Thanks?"

"No problem," said Impmon turning away with a rather self-righteous smirk on his face. "Just remember who it was that helped you in the future, okay?"

"… Sure… no problem…"

If Minoru were an anime character, he felt that this would be the moment where he would have a massive bit of sweat hanging off his head (or hair) like some oversized raindrop. Of course, such wasn't the case for him, so he just decided to go with things. Besides… Impmon was the only one right now who was helping him _willingly_, even if he was doing it for what _had_ to be undisclosed reasons. Who else was he going to turn to in this crazy world? He hadn't even figured out how to wake up from this dream that he was sure that he was having.

Minoru sighed inwardly as the strange duo approached the festivals grounds.

* * *

"WHAT? WHADDAYA MEAN THAT YOU WON'T LET HIM HAVE A JOB?!?!" 

Minoru winced at the excessive volume that Impmon was using in front of the Datamon that he had _claimed_ owed him a favor.

_For such a little guy he sure can be loud…_

Turning his gaze on the _digimon_ that Impmon had introduced him to, the boy looked him over with a gaze that a tired gaze. Standing in the booth before him was… well, a small, mechanical creature with a crude face, some arms and legs protruding from the sides, and what looked like a light bulb sitting on top of his head and housing a computer like object that Minoru could only believe that was his brain, for lack of any other identification. He certainly had nothing else to draw from as far as robots went, and this being the first that he had seen that did more than stumble around and repeat recorded phrases he imagined that it could have been just about anything, including a cybernetic version of a stomach. Given the location of the device however as being on top of its head, and the fact that it lit up every time it spoke helped him come to that conclusion, but he was only guessing so far. In the end he just decided to let it be and go with the flow. He suspected that that attitude was going to be the proper one that he needed if he expected to keep his sanity.

"It's just like I said Impmon," said the Datamon in a tone that held barely concealed irritation, indicating to the boy that the android, despite his robotic appearance, could be quite snappy when he wanted to be. "All the positions are filled right now and besides; _look at him!_" Datamon gestured with one large, mechanical hand that looked like it was made out of old, metal, tubes. "Not to sound insulting or anything," the Datamon nodded respectfully to Minoru, who returned it with a small smile. "But he's easily the flimsiest thing that I've ever seen except maybe a Numemon! And _they_ at least have an attribute! I did a scan of this kid, and I tell ya, he's got nothing! The data patterns don't match up, and he doesn't even show up in my database!"

"So?" Shot back Impmon snidely. "There're _tons_ of digimon that aren't in your database, even some common ones! And so what if he's got no attribute? That doesn't mean that he can't do anything! Remember that ball of discarded data that you hired last year? You said that no one else short of you or Andromon could store data as well as _that _guy, plus he never talked back…"

"Okay. Yeah. I'll give you that, but there wasn't much else that ball was good for, and my memory banks were getting full at the time thanks to the workload, which was _why_ I hired him in the first place. But the lack of attributes for this kid worries me. He can't perform the same labors as some of the other digimon around here, and if he gets in a jam he can't defend himself like you or I can…"

"Hire him a bodyguard or something!"

"Hire a guard for a worker? That's nuts! Do you know how much extra digi-dollars I'd have to invest for a _proper_ guard? They don't come cheap you know! There'd be no profit left for me! And don't even think about volunteering yourself, you've already got a job, which took me quite a few strings to pull I might add. Besides, like I said. All the positions are filled right now!"

Impmon glared at the tiny mechanical construct, and Minoru reflexively glanced at his watch before cursing himself for forgetting that it no longer displayed the time properly. They had been at this for a few minutes after the introductions had been made, and there didn't seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel. For Minoru, he didn't know quite what to make of all of this. He was still rather spooked by the weirdness of the world and its inhabitants around him, but slowly, out of a desire to retain his sanity, he was getting used to it. In a lot of ways it reminded him of home, only with strange digital life forms that took the form of monsters and robots and a weird digital version of the Earth hanging in the sky. Other than that, there wasn't too much difference, but then like most things in life, like icebergs, he was probably only seeing the tip of this world.

Minoru returned his attention to the conversation between Datamon and Impmon.

"What about that favor that you owe me?" Asked the diminutive, imp monster stabbing a finger at the Datamon before him who rubbed his chin (or lack thereof) thoughtfully.

"I already paid you back on that one. The DarkTyrannomon incident right? In fact, I paid you back for that one _twice!_ The free chocolate coated data slushies you said covered the debt… but then you always say that until you need something else and then you bring up a list of tents that dinosaur destroyed in his rampage…"

"You owe me for the bathroom stall that he smashed!"

Had Datamon been capable, his eye would have twitched in annoyance.

"…Just like you're doing right now," he grumbled. "No. I'm not falling for it this time. I've got no job openings for your friend. Sorry…"

"You _owe _me!" Growled Impmon as he leaned forward, scowling at the mechanical digimon. Datamon did not look at all impressed, but then, Minoru noted, he'd be surprised if he showed any emotion in that stiff, metal face of his. "No one else was willing to clean up after the Numemon until you got a replacement bathroom stall remember? You almost had to close down early because of that as I recall…"

"Well, yeah but… but the slushie… and you said…"

Impmon crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at Datamon, his mouth taking on a pout to it as he did so.

"But… but…"

Minoru blinked. Datamon actually sounded uncertain. Did that mean…?

Datamon sighed, and what passed for his shoulders sagged in defeat, accepting the inevitable.

"All right. You win. He starts today… but this _covers_ the debt for good this time! You hear me?"

"Yeah, sure! No problem! I hear ya!"

"I mean it! I don't wanna see you coming back around here bringing that time up again just so you can try to get something else out of me…!"

"I got it!"

"You'd better…"

* * *

Across the grassy plains a flower stood, blowing in the wind, carefree and not a worry in the word beyond soaking in the rays of the day's sun. Slowly, ever so slowly the petals parted, letting in the sunlight as a gentle wind blew by, caressing it with its passing… 

A dark blue foot wearing blood red armor and black colored metallic blades for toes slammed down on top of it, crushing the flower beneath its weight before lifting up and repeating the same action as a dark figure raced across the field, vanishing from sight almost as quickly as it appeared.

A gentle wind blew across the flattened remains of the flower as though mourning it, caressing it with its passing…

* * *

7 


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon.

Uncertain Destiny: Chapter 4

_I hate carnivals. I don't really know why. Maybe it's because when I was a little kid, my folks, who had taken a vacation to America and brought me and my brother along went and visited a circus. I was too young to clearly remember what had happened, but what I do recall was that the clowns scared me pretty bad, and a lama tried to eat my shoe. After nine years of not joining in on those kinds of festivities…willingly…I thought that I had gotten over it._

_Before I knew it, I had one more reason to hate festivals.

* * *

_

"This…is officially…disgusting," groaned Minoru Akagi, grimacing as he tried not to breathe through his nose while he emptied a trash barrel into a large plastic bag. Minoru cringed as something…_pink,_ sludge like, and extremely odorous spilled out the sides and landed by his feet.

"Ahhh…quit your griping," replied Impmon as he scribbled something down busily on a pad of paper with a pencil. "At least you got the job, didn't ya?"

"That's not very comforting," mumbled Minoru as he picked up a shovel that he had leaned up on a tent pole behind him. "This job still stinks! Literally!"

"You know…you're not sounding very grateful to _have _a job," piped in a long eared, white and green furred, diminutive creature with black, button-like eyes from next to Minoru as he held up the trash bag with his ears and tiny paws to receive the pink colored sludge. "Times have been getting to be pretty tough lately, and I know some 'mon who would be grateful to have a few digi-dollars to spend for their meals."

Impmon nodded, agreeing with their long eared comrade before looking at the brown haired human boy. "Yeah. And aren't you the one who said that you needed to get to the Terminus so that you could get home? Traveling between domains isn't exactly a cheap and easy trip you know. Digi dollars don't grow on trees…"

"They do in Verdani," said the long eared digimon, but Impmon ignored him.

"…And my own financial resources aren't going to last us forever. And besides, not every mon out there is going to be as generous as I am."

"Yeah…you're a real philanthropist," muttered the long eared digimon sarcastically. This time Impmon turned to him with a glare.

"Let me just remind you Terriermon that _I'm_ your boss here…"

"Hey! Take it easy why don't ya? I'm sorry, okay? Sheesh! You can be about as prickly as the Togemon that taught us in school, and you don't even have her needles! What's your deal?"

Impmon scowled and crossed his arms.

"My deal is that we're in the work world now Terriermon. We're not playing here. Datamon is expecting us to work and get our jobs done, and that pretty much means doing it without any backtalk, or did you not read your contract when you signed it? And that was a rhetorical question by the way so don't bother answering it." Impmon looked down at his pad of paper, quickly doing a count. "Okay… It looks like you guys are almost wrapped up here, so I'm going to go see Datamon and have him see if he's got any more jobs for you."

"Great," muttered the long eared digimon again. "I'll bet that we're going to get the Monochromon stalls…"

"Keep talking like that and you will," shot back Impmon as he turned and began to stride away. "Now hurry up with your job and go see Datamon in about half an hour! I've got to go make some rounds after this so I won't be able to baby-sit you two! Later!"

Minoru watched the little, impish digimon saunter away before shaking his head.

"Hey," spoke up the digimon that Impmon had called Terriermon after seeing the boy's motion. "Humon. You okay?"

Minoru frowned and glared at the nametag that had been stitched onto the pair of suspender pants that he had been made to wear upon his accepting of his new _job._ He had been quite adamant in telling both Datamon and Impmon about what his name was, and yet for some reason that hadn't stopped them from sowing the stupid thing on. Impmon's misinterpretation of his species name had stuck with him now, for good or ill.

_This is really not turning out to be a good day,_ grumbled Minoru.

"I'm…fine I guess," said Minoru as he tied the trash bag back together and hefted it over his shoulders while Terriermon grabbed the shovel with his long ears, surprising him once more with how strong the little digimon was for his size. "About as fine as any human being can be when they're stuck in a weird nightmare world where giant insects and flaming birds fly around, imps walk up to you and give you charity, and dogs look like rabbits."

Terriermon cocked an eyebrow in confusion.

"What's a rabbit?"

"Never mind," sighed Minoru. "I'm just not having a good day, that's all."

Terriermon shrugged his shoulders.

"Wish that I could do something to help, other then what I'm doing already that is. Not for nothing, but I'm paid to do this, so I don't think that my efforts are really all that big on the scale of helpfulness. Plus, you're bigger then me."

Minoru gave a small smile as the pair began to trudge onwards, looking for the next garbage can to empty.

"Now you're making _me_ feel guilty about complaining, seeing as how we're both stuck in the same hole here."

_Though why I should feel bad when I'm only dreaming all of this is beyond me…_

Terriermon giggled like a little child.

"Well then no worries, right? If we're both in the same hole we'll help each other out! This way, we don't have to worry so much about helping each other just because it's 'our job'!"

"I suppose," said Minoru. "Though I don't see why you feel so compelled to help me."

"That's just how I am. Impmon always used to call me the 'straight arrow' back when we went to 'Ms. Togemon's School for Rookies' back in Serenity Village. He always made fun of me for that, but I think that I've rubbed off on him seeing as how he helped you Humon."

Minoru resisted the urge to sigh at the digimon's use of his 'name'.

"So you know Impmon, huh?"

"Sure! Weren't you listening when he hooked you and me up? We've known each other for years!"

"I only got the quick, edited version though," said Minoru. "But then again it's not exactly my place to pry or anything…"

"Nah! You're not prying. I'd be curious too if I were you, meeting up with Impmon the way you did. It's not often that I hear about him being charitable, especially for one of his species. Usually when he does stuff it's so that someone can owe him something later, but this has got to be the first time I've seen him help someone and cash in a dept to do it. He wasn't exactly a bad mon when I grew up with him, but he tended to have motives to everyone else. Plus he had a mischievous streak to him."

"You sound like you know him better then that though."

Terriermon snorted and adjusted the little workers cap that sat on his head and checked his overalls uniform.

"I know him pretty well, but he doesn't always let me in. Plus it's been about a year since I've last seen him. He's never exactly been close to anybody, but I tended to be one of the closest… well me and a Floramon that grew up in the same village as us. Anyway, I always saw him as one of those who had an inner, good nature that he'd get embarrassed about admitting having. I remember that Floramon liked that part of him a lot. She wasn't too happy when he didn't return home that one year. He just dropped out of sight. This is the first time that I've seen him since."

"Hmmm…"

"So what about you?" Asked Terriermon with a happy grin on his face. "Where are you from if I may I ask?"

Minoru paused to collect himself before answering.

"A long ways away," he said finally. "In fact, I don't think that I could really give an answer. I've never been to…this part of the world before. It's kinda complicated. One moment I was somewhere else, back home that is, and the next I woke up in the middle of a path that led here with no memory of how I got here."

"Hmmm…" Terriermon tapped one tiny hand on the bottom of his chin as he furrowed his brow in concentration. "I wonder if you were caught up in a data stream. Back when I went to Togemon's school she told us about how they happened all the time. But I thought that the Seraphim fixed that when he came to power and established the Servers."

Minoru looked at the little dog-bunny-thing creature with amazement.

_For a dream, this dream sure has a lot of history and important figures that I don't know anything about. Seraphim? Isn't that a type of angel? Wonder why Terriermon here refers to it in the singular. _

Minoru shrugged it off mentally, not feeling as though there was any importance to the matter. There was enough about this _Digital World_ that confused him. The reality of this place, this dream continued to confound him to no end despite the fact that everything that he saw and encountered was anything _but_ the reality that he had grown accustomed to during his twelve years of existence. None of it added up, and too much of it felt like a children's cartoon.

_Robots that have witty comebacks and talk snidely to customers? Helpful imps? This is like a demented, warped version of an Alice in Wonderland story! Any second now I'll be hearing the Queen of Hearts showing up, screaming 'off with his head' or something…_

"OFF WITH HIS HEAD!"

Minoru's eyes widened in shock as he spun around, only to relax as his gaze turned into a glower as he saw a strange, hamster like creature with an orange dinosaur playing with what looked like a pair of hand dolls at one of the festival's play attractions.

"Agumon and Patamon's doing the QueenChessmon routine again," chuckled Terriermon as he adjusted his cap. "I love it when they do the guillotine scene. Always gets the little In-Training's laughing when the sock puppets go to pieces. I think the PawnChessmon revolt is after this one. Too bad we can't stick around for that."

"Yeah," said Minoru, his voice a smooth monotone from his near scare, one eye twitching visibly though Terriermon was too busy laughing at the act in front of them to pay any notice. "Too bad."

"Anyway," continued Terriermon as he shifted the shovel held in his ears carefully. "I think that we've got only one more trash receptacle in this area remaining, and then after we get rid of the trash bag we can go see Datamon for further instructio…"

Terriermon was interrupted by the sound of a loud crash followed by a tent suddenly and inexplicably flying through the air before returning to earth. Loud, intense roars and the sound of stamping feet filled the air. Terriermon dropped his shovel in surprise.

"Ah! What the…?"

Minoru blinked.

"Isn't that coming from the tent where all those big, horned dinosaurs are?" He asked nervously. Terriermon's eyes bulged out of their sockets as realization hit him.

"AH! THE MONOCHROMON! Oh man! Datamon's going to blow a gasket when he gets wind of this! Well? Don't just stand there! We've got to do something to stop them before they stampede out of control and trample the whole place! Boy, what a day for Birdramon and Kuwagamon to be out of town! Come on, Humon!"

"Hey! Wait! We're not actually going to…" Minoru halted as Terriermon sped off towards the disturbance, pumping his tiny legs as fast as they could go, which was rather surprising given their size. After a couple seconds of hesitation Minoru chased after him, trying to keep up with the little speed demon. Another tent flew through the air as the sound of a Monochromon roaring angrily echoed throughout the encampment, drowning out the screams of startled and frightened digimon.

_This is so stupid,_ thought Minoru as he hastily dodged a chunk of tent as it came flying in his direction. _This is just a dream! Why is this even happening?!_

The sound of two heavy bodies colliding together was his only answer as the human boy continued to follow Terriermon through the chaos that had suddenly exploded within the festival grounds.

* * *

The red rage of Monochromon wasn't the only one that colored the landscape. A plume of smoke rose in the sky as roaring fires licked at wooden houses. Shards of data particles filled the air as a dark figure walked amongst their charred and burning ruins. Red anger simmered within the figures eyes as he stalked towards an inert form lying in the center of the remains of the town. The form was coughing and shaking badly as the ground crunched beneath the approaching figure's feet. Bladed talons glowed a blood red color in the burning, simmering aura of the flames that surrounded them. Dark blue muscles flexed beneath red armor as the figure came to a stop atop the shaking, helpless creature before him. 

_Mine!_ Thought the figure as a memory suddenly flared to life in his mind, a memory that was brought forth by the sight of the round, orange colored, bat winged digimon lying in front of his bladed feet. _Patamon…you…__**he**__ took what was __**mine!**__ Took it when he had no right to! This was supposed to be __**my**__ time! My time…with __**her!**__ Not __**his!**__ How dare he! How dare he do that?!_

The sound of a support beam giving away was heard peripherally, reminding him of the destruction that he had caused; the savagery that he had unleashed when he had returned home and had seen his love…his one and only love with this…this _bat pig!_ Shameful…despicable! The others of the village had tried to stop him when he had lunged at Patamon. They failed of course…_died_ in fact. The ExVeemon adults had put up a good fight, as did _she_, but they were no match for him. It had seemed as though he had been filled with great strength. With a _fire_, a _rage_ that went beyond even their paltry attacks. For an instant, he was repulsed by what he had done, but he had been left with no time at all to dwell on it.

_Ever since that incident in the cave,_ the figure thought, his mind feeling strangely fogged, as though smothered by the smoke from the flames that he had caused. _I haven't been able to…think…properly…_

The orange, bat winged digimon that he had once called his friend stirred beneath him, and then it felt as though the entire world was aflame again. Rage once more ignited in his heart as the figure raised one, clawed gauntlet. A scythe like arm blade reflected the light from the fire as he towered over the Patamon. Patamon looked up, eyes weary. He was too badly hurt and tired to even feel fear now. A shame. He had been saved for last just so that he could look into his eyes for just that very emotion.

"Please…" Patamon whispered. The arm hovered in the air for a moment before descending downwards. There followed a loud, _thuck_ sound and then, orange and white shards of data floated into the air listlessly, becoming invisible against the fire that raged around them.

_Now,_ thought the creature that had once been a Veemon. The fire in his heart feasted on the devastation that he had wrought…all in the name of love, but it was not enough. All that he had known was gone now, because of _her,_ and even though his treasured Gatomon and her treasured Patamon had now paid the price for their misdeeds (and oh how he had taken great satisfaction in seeing Gatomon's blue eyes quake in fear), it still wasn't enough. The fire in his breast burned hotly, and refused to be quenched by just this mere taste of vengeance and fury. Smote the skies with ruin? They were beyond his reach right now, but surely…

The darkened digimon who had been consumed in the darkness of the cave paused as a thought occurred to him.

_Yes…I rather like the sound of that._

The demonic digimon chuckled as he flexed his talons and turned, seeking to reorient himself within the flame and smoke filled ruins of the town he had once called home.

_I think that it's time to touch off a festivity that __**no one**__ will soon forget…_

It seemed rather…_appropriate._ A final fire for the dream of a love lost…

* * *

6 


End file.
